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"Excerpt from High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter By George D. Kuh A Brief Overview The following teaching and learning practices have been widely tested and have been shown to be beneficial for college students from many backgrounds. These practices take many different forms, depending on learner characteristics and on institutional priorities and contexts. On many campuses, assessment of student involvement in active learning practices such as these has made it possible to assess the practices' contribution to students' cumulative learning. However, on almost all campuses, utilization of active learning practices is unsystematic, to the detriment of student learning. Presented below are brief descriptions of high-impact practices that educational research suggests increase rates of student retention and student engagement. "

Ever wanted to try active learning, but felt that it might take too much time away from your lecture? A bookended lecture is one in which short segments of active learning are interspersed or bookended at the beginning and/or ends of the lecture. This resource provides summaries of 36 different ways to include some interactivity in your lectures.

"The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. The notion of a flipped classroom draws on such concepts as active learning, student engagement, hybrid course design, and course podcasting. The value of a flipped class is in the repurposing of class time into a workshop where students can inquire about lecture content, test their skills in applying knowledge, and interact with one another in hands-on activities. Although implementing a flipped classroom places different demands on faculty and forces students to adjust their expectations, the model has the potential to bring about a distinctive shift in priorities-from merely covering material to working toward mastery of it."

"The traditional model of the lecture and learning cycle has long been to deliver the lecture during class and to send students home to do homework and perhaps engage in a discussion or two afterwards. The flipped classroom flips this model on its head: through lecture capture software, lectures can be captured on video for students to watch home, freeing up class time for hands-on learning activities and discussion."

"The traditional lecture may have been an efficient format for transferring information 100 years ago, but it's no longer practical in an era of exploding medical knowledge, says Dr. David Snadden, executive associate dean of education for the faculty of medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. "We've actually reached a stage where we can't fit [in] all the curriculum. It's just not possible." "The thing that's becoming really critical for us is helping our students understand how to manage information, access and sift information" as they'll need to do as practising physicians, he adds. Shifting course material onto the Internet offers a solution to both these challenges, Snadden says. In addition to freeing class time for more active learning, the model allows students to control the pace of their learning and "skip the things that don't seem relevant or that they already know." 

"A blended course often reduces face-to-face "seat time" so that students can pursue additional teaching and learning activities online. These ten questions (adapted from the University of Wisconsin's Hybrid Course website ) are a good starting point when thinking about blended course redesign."

"Self-determination lies at the heart of Aboriginal pedagogy. Aboriginal people do want to share their knowledges with other Australians. It is, however, critical to recognise that there is an expectation of reciprocity in such an activity. The sharing of knowledges should be to the mutual benefit of all concerned. Those knowledges that are secret and sacred must remain so."

"Flipping the classroom changes the place in which content is delivered. If the teacher assigns lecture-type instruction-in the form of video, simulations, slidecasts, readings, podcasts-as homework, then class time can be used interactively. The class becomes conversation space, creation space, space where teachers actively facilitate learning.  The home becomes the lecture space. The hundred+ year-old frontal teaching model flips."

Ever thought about using Google Earth as a learning tool in your teaching? SERC has a variety of Google-Earth inspired examples on their website to get you inspired this term!

"Discussions are an important component of many forms of online student interaction. For students to benefit from an online discussion, it is important for teachers to generate relevant topics, effectively moderate student activity and participate regularly. This episode will highlight several strategies to help you manage online discussions more effectively, and make them more beneficial for your students."

"Provide flexibility in how information is delivered and discussed such as giving instructions verbally and visually. Use a variety of teaching strategies, activities, and assignments that will accommodate the needs of students with diverse learning needs, abilities, backgrounds and experiences."

Back-of-envelope calculations are a great way to help your students practice completing problems and to break up the lecture. Check out the SERC's examples of back-of-envelope calculations in their Activity Collection.